Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari (1898-1998) was born to the sound of engines in his father's workshop in Modena. He saw his first car race in 1908, and knew then and there he wanted to be a driver. After serving in the First World War, he got his first chance with C.M.N. (Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali) in Milan, and in 1920 went over to Alfa Romeo's factory team.

Enzo had been a great friend of Italy's World War I flying ace Francesco Barraca (who died in a mysterious crash in 1918), and in 1923 his mother gave Enzo the famous Prancing Pony badge salvaged from his plane. It would be Ferrari's talisman: not only after he won his first race, the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara. Although he continued to race until 1932, he soon after began working in the Alfa shop, preparing race cars and managing drivers.

In 1932 Enzo started his own racing team or 'stable', the Scuderia Ferrari, with Alfa Romeo; in 1935, his star driver, Tazio Nuvolari, won at the German Grand Prix. In 1937, when Alfa took back control of its racers, Enzo decided it was time to move on. Unable, according to his contract, to use his own name for four years, he called his company Auto Avio Costruzioni, and built his first two cars (one of the survivors is now in the Collezione Righini) in time to race in the Mille Miglia of 1940. Then came the war, when Auto Avio Costruzioni was compelled to manufacture parts for Mussolini's war machine, until the factory was bombed.